You might have consumed this beaver sac excretion without knowing

Castoreum is a natural flavoring that can be used in vanilla or strawberry-flavored foods. But it’s not a lab-made creation, neither is it a unique-sounding plant. It’s the name of an excretion from the anal castor sacs of beavers. This substance has been used for centuries in medicines and soaps in addition to food. But you won’t find “castoreum” listed as an ingredient in ice cream or strawberry syrup. It’s often grouped under the term “natural flavorings.”

Using Beaver Sac Excretion as a Vanilla FlavoringHowever, there’s no need to stress about how much castoreum you may have unknowingly consumed. It’s deemed safe by the FDA, which claimed “a long historical use of castoreum extract as a flavoring and fragrance ingredient has resulted in no reports of human adverse reactions.” But companies avoid it for several reason. For one, it prevents their products from being certified kosher. And even more importantly, it’s costly to use beaver sac excretion.“In the flavor industry, you need tons and tons of material to work with,” says flavor chemist Gary Reineccius, from the University of Minnesota. “It’s not like you can grow fields of beavers to harvest. There aren’t very many of them. So it ends up being a very expensive product — and not very popular with food companies.

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